


Day 17: Nickel

by GemmaRose



Series: Lost Light Fest 2018 [17]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Meetings, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, man Nickel's backstory is fucked up when u think about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-14 06:11:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16487282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: “You say there was an attack. Where are the dead?”She looked down at that, at the bits of dirt she hadn’t had the energy to properly scrub from her joints in- she couldn’t remember how long, anymore. “I can show you, if you want.”





	Day 17: Nickel

“What’ve you got there, boy?” a strangely accented voice asked from above, well out of range of her optic sensors with the angle she was being held at. Nickel trembled as the jaws locked around her alt form tightened slightly, and the voice sighed. “C’mon, drop it.” it cajoled. “Who knows where it’s been?”

The teeth digging into her armour eased up in their pressure, and she tumbled free into- a pair of giant hands? She tried to rock back onto her wheels, but the hands gripped her sides tight. “Holy- Tess, look at this!” the ground fell rapidly away, and she found herself held out to the largest bot she’d ever seen. Her entire frame could easily fit inside the hole in their chest, even the wings of her aerial form wouldn’t pose much of a challenge.

The bot rumbled something inarticulate, and the one holding her scoffed. “Yeah, but this one’s not _dead_.” she spun her wheels frantically as one of the hands supporting her dropped, the bot tilting her sideways and a finger poking at her undercarriage. “C’mon, we’re not gonna hurt you.”

She transformed back into root mode as gravity started to tip her towards being on her back again, and clung to the hand and wrist of the huge, _massive_ bot holding her. “Put me down, put me down!” she yelled, optics flicking from the bot’s face to the ground as her feet kicked at nothing. There wouldn’t be enough time for her to transform into aerial mode if she fell, even if transforming was _why_ she fell she wouldn’t have the time to right herself or the space to gain altitude.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright.” the bot holding her laughed, hands wrapping around her chassis. “We’re not here to hurt you.”

“You sure?” another massive bot asked in the same accent, and the one holding her switched their grip so she was pressed against their chest like a toy. Gripping the fan blades there made her feel slightly more secure, and she idly noticed that they felt more than a little bit filthy.

“Yes, Helex, I’m sure.” the bot holding her said condescendingly. “I’m the one with The List, remember? This li’l thing’s signature isn’t on there.”

Nickel could hear the capital letters in those words, and felt more than a little grateful that whoever these bots were they weren’t here to finish what the Black Whatever had started. “I have a name, you know.” she piped up, flicking one of the fan blades sharply. It rang, but only a dull note for a brief moment before the reverberation died out.

“And what would that be?” a new voice asked, softer and deeper than the others, resonating strangely in her chassis. The bot holding her turned her around so her back was to their chest and she could see the one who’d spoken.

“Nickel.” she lifted her chin, examining the newcomer. No, newcomer _s_ , there was a second one at the side of the one in the mask, the smallest of the group but still easily four times her size. “Who are you?”

The short one barked out a laugh, then turned to the one next to them and said something in- she honestly didn’t know what language that was, but it sure as hell wasn’t Neo-Cybex. “Wait, you mean you don’t _know_?” the one holding her asked skeptically, and she shook her helm.

“We are the Decepticon Justice Division.” the masked one spoke, silencing the other large bots without raising their voice. Nickel stared blankly, and the short one who talked funny looked like they’d been smacked over the helm. Her optics flicked between the bots in her field of vision, and she realized each of them had the same emblem on their armour. An emblem in the same shape as the quiet one’s mask.

“You really don’t know.” the big blue one said, and Nickel shook her helm.

“Kaon, put him down.” the masked one said, and Nickel crossed her arms.

“Her.” she huffed, and the mask tilted slightly towards her. “It’s rude to assume, you know.”

For some reason, that seemed to throw the masked bot for a loop and a half. She met the impassive eyes of the mask without flinching, even as she had to tilt her helm back to do so when she was lowered to the ground. She’d put so many friends in the dirt that the numbers had lost their meaning, she wouldn’t be cowed by strangers who had already admitted they had no reason to hurt her. Even if the smallest of them did happen to be easily four times her height.

“Apologies.” the masked one said stiffly, to sniggers from the rest of the bots surrounding them. “My name is Tarn, I’m the leader of the DJD.” they crouched, getting closer to her height. “Can you tell us what happened here?” they gestured at the landscape, barren and pockmarked with craters from the explosives which had rained down on her home.

Nickel realized her hands were creaking, and forced herself to relax them. “An attack.” she said simply, shoving the memories down, away, where they couldn't consume her.

The shortest DJD member said something in their strange language, and Tarn nodded. “You have a point, Vos.” they said, optics remaining locked on Nickel. “You say there was an attack. Where are the dead?”

She looked down at that, at the bits of dirt she hadn’t had the energy to properly scrub from her joints in- she couldn’t remember how long, anymore. “I can show you, if you want.” she said softly, and Tarn rose to their full height.

“Lead the way.”

She changed into her wheeled alt mode, and started back towards town. The towering figures followed after her, easily keeping pace, and she slowed slightly as they approached the first ruined buildings. The larger bots slowed as well, even the sparkeater’s gait faltering for a moment, as if it could feel the spectre of death which hung over this place. For all that the numbers and names and faces blurred together in her mind, Nickel could still recall the frames she’d found in these buildings, twisted greyed-out corpses and gruesomely mangled survivors. None of them had survived for long, though. Even the ones she’d found the first day after the attack stopped were long buried now, succumbed to their injuries.

“Who could have done this?” one of the bots behind her asked, barely a whisper as they turned and headed back out of the city, towards what had once been a beautiful cliff.

Nickel looked up as she rolled to a halt at the base, optics panning over the battle scars in the stone. Transforming back into root mode, she gestured for the Decepticons to follow her along the overhang. It wasn’t far before the path took a sharp turn, and she heard at least one gasp as the cavern opened up before them. “This was the only place the organics didn’t touch.” she said, looking up at the glowing veins which illuminated the cavern. “It didn’t feel right, to bury them on a battlefield.”

“How many?” one of them asked, probably the one with no optics. Kaon, Tarn had called them.

“Everyone.” Nickel’s hands curled into fists, nearly tight enough to creak. “I tried to save them, but-”

“What of the attackers?” Tarn filled the silence of her unfinished sentence, and Nickel grimaced.

“Those they didn’t take with when they left are rotting where they fell.” she spat. They didn’t deserve a burial, or even a funeral pyre. Not after what they’d done to her home, to her friends.

“Organics.” Tarn said darkly, and Nickel tensed as a large hand landed on her shoulder. “Did they give a name?”

“Black something.” she shook her head. “It was hard to hear, over the explosions.”

“The Black Block Consortia.”

Nickel’s hands creaked dangerously, her whole frame shuddering as her optics fritzed, the cavern of graves replaced with flashes of fire and concussive blasts of sound. Frames, greying frames everywhere, silence ringing in her ears without so much as the crackle of static to break it.

“Helex.” a voice filtered through her awareness as her vision fritzed between scenes of fire and ruin and death, death, so much death. “Take her.”

“What?”

“She’s coming with us.”

“Why?”

“She’s not on the list, Hel. And hers is the only inorganic life sign on this planet.”

“Oh.” something pressed against her arms, pinning them to her sides, and she went limp as she was lifted from the ground.

“Recharge.” a pressure dragged over her faceplate, gentle as the voice speaking to her. “Go to recharge, Nickel. Your job is done. You can rest.”

The voice dropped as it went on, and she found her optics dimming in time with it despite the loud protests of the other voices. Recharge sounded really, really nice.


End file.
